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Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Richard Debolt sure can dish it out, but can't take it

He can put out negative, untrue ads. But, he can't take true negative ads. He gets all bunchy about Mike Rechner's new ad:

A Democratic challenger's televised blasting of Rep. Richard DeBolt, the state House Republican Leader from Chehalis, has grabbed some attention in Thurston County.

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DeBolt said the ad has a "negative, nasty tone," and he disputed its claims. Rechner said it informs the voters.

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DeBolt said Rechner and his party are avoiding issues in favor of a negative campaign, noting that the Thurston County Democratic Party also filed a complaint over his campaign finance reporting this year.

"I guess personal attacks are OK with them, but when you attack issues, they don't want to do that," DeBolt said.

Here's the ad:

The funny part about this ad, and Debolt's reaction to it, is that the second part of the ad is about Debolt using untruths in ads he funded earlier this year:

Democratic lawmakers were livid Tuesday over a Republican-backed ad campaign blasting them as being soft on sex predators.

The latest salvo in the $75,000 radio, TV, phone and mail campaign by The Speaker's Roundtable has been a wave of postcards that blanketed five legislative districts over the weekend. Republicans, who are outnumbered by Democrats in the statehouse, say the ads are their way of pushing for tougher sex-offender laws.

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Marked "SEX OFFENDER NOTIFICATION," the cards picture a real child rapist. "This violent predator lives in your community," the cards say. They also list the names of local Democratic lawmakers and urge people to call and tell them to "protect children and not violent sex offenders." At least seven Democrats in five legislative districts have been targeted in the mailings.

As it turns out, the 57-year-old man pictured in the photo actually lives in Pierce County's Gig Harbor, not in Vancouver, Walla Walla or most of the other cities where the postcards were received.

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Several of the Democrats blamed DeBolt, R-Chehalis, who helps raise money for The Speaker's Roundtable. In a letter Tuesday, they demanded an apology.